


From darkness to light

by CandleInTheDark



Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-02 01:28:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16776886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CandleInTheDark/pseuds/CandleInTheDark
Summary: This is going to be a series of shorts on one of my Dragon Age characters, Tora Brosca. This is not going to be a retreading of the game nor in any particular order as I will be posting stories as they come to me and as I respond to story and headcanon prompts on the Dragon Age subreddit.





	1. Since she could walk

Tora needed a hard drink, she needed to sleep, she needed to get the smell of blood, vomit and piss off of her clothes. Unfortunately what she needed and what she was capable of achieving right now did not quite match up, This was a problem, one that could be resolved by a hard drink.

Well shit. Vicious circles and all that.

Besides which there was enough drink in the Brosca home to begin with quite honestly, and that was the reason sweeping the streets wasn't cutting it any more, and the reason she had just left Beraht's store, he had made an offer, he was going to take on Rica as a noble hunter, though Tora was sure he had had his eye on her for a few weeks now. As a courtesy, in his words, he was giving her, on reference from Leske, the job of tidying up messes as and when they arose. The thing was that noble hunting was very transferable to corner whore and Beraht had made clear that he could and would break her to that and had done the same to many others before.

So Tora was going to have to swallow down her objection on this and play nice, not something that she was all together happy with, but she looked after her older sister, had done since she had beaten the snot out of Leske for peeking up Rica's skirt, in other words more or less since she could walk. She took a breath and opened the door of what could jokingly be called a home, great, she could add the smell of cheap swill to the wonderful mix of smells that were assaulting her nose. She walked past the room her mother would be in, ignoring the bark of her name and walked to the room she shared with her sister, putting a package down on the dresser before throwing herself down onto the threadbare blanket that was hers.

If she were a slightly worse person she would be jealous of her sister, Beraht had moved in a bed, a dresser, a single one of each because after all Rica needed to look pretty if she was going to get herself heavy with child. She loved her sister though, all they had in common was a drunk mother and their hair colour but they clung to each other at a time they had nothing else. Rica was dozing lightly and Tora took a long look at her form, when had she eaten last? When had Tora eaten last for that matter? She took out the lump of bread she had been able to buy with the coin Beraht had given her, it was pretty official that she was living on his coin now, she hated it.

Rica stirred as Tora put the bread on a plate, she nudged her, “Here, I bought you some food.”

Rica rubbed her eyes then sat up in the bed, “Where is yours?”

“I've eaten.”

Rica pursed her lips, “Liar, and a bad one at that.”

Tora sighed, Rica made this harder for her every time, “I can last, you can't.” If Rica became a bag of bones then she was hardly going to be attracting a noble, she already had the brand to get past, it could be done but she needed weight, “I'll eat tomorrow, Beraht has a job coming in.”

Hopefully this time it wouldn't involve smashing someone's hand with a hammer.

Tora gestured towards the package, “Beraht sent that, let's have a look.” She had slipped into the he's the boss demeanour that she managed to hide her revulsion of the whole mess behind.

Rica took a bite of the bread and pulled the lace dress out of the package, holding in a squeal that would have brought their mother running as she ran her hands over it, Tora smiled faintly, if there was anything good of this, it was her sister being able to do things as simple as wear a dress. She stood and laced up the back, “Go subtle with the makeup today, they're going off the plastered on look.”

“Rica! Tora!”

Tora held back a curse, “Go to Leske's, the last thing you need is a black eye.” Tora more or less pushed her out of the window, grabbing what makeup and perfume Rica had left on the dresser the night before to pass to her.

“Will you be joining us?”

“Maybe.” Rica didn't have to say be careful, but then if anyone could handle their mother in a drunk rage it was Tora, she had been doing that since she could walk as well, “Go!”


	2. On the road

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A dwarf talks family, and comes to terms with a common surface dwarf issue (darn sun)

Images of the last tumultuous days flashed through Tora's mind, managing the drunken rage of her mother and the dirty work that her job threw her way, time with her sister, the Proving, oh Paragons the Proving, the river of blood through Beraht's base that ended at Beraht himself, resigning herself to a death that would have been...prolonged and her rescue by the Warden. There was so much that she was free from, so much she had left behind, so much that she worried about still. How long could Rica survive with their mother? Who was the noble who had been interested in her? Was it kinder to wish her success in that or that she stay in the place they knew?

Whipped, left hand for stealing, right hand for soiling a smith's work, flogged and if you survive that...executed for despoiling the Proving grounds.

Oh it had been worth it, as had crushing the head of the Rat beneath the maul she had taken from one of his guards for what he had said about...

Tora stirred with a whimper, the sun shining brightly in her eyes. She moved her hand over them as a shadow passed and she saw Duncan, “That will take a while to get used to, I wager.”

Tora stretched, trying to find somewhere shady to look and settling for turning away from the sun as she sat up, “It is right...there.” The sun was not something that a dwarf who stayed beneath the surface ever had to deal with.

Duncan tilted his head, “There is something else bothering you, isn't there?”

How could Tora spill her guts to this man who had taken her from a fate that would have seen her last moments an agony? “It isn't important.”

“If it is important to you, my stout friend, it is important to me. For the spirit you have shown I admire you, also, pragmatically, anything bothering you to such an extent may mean your death.” Dwarves were not always the most open, Duncan knew, he knew less about casteless ones and how they acted differently to nobles than he would like.

“I miss my sister.”

And in some ways, everyone was the same. “It is tough to leave family behind.”

“Tougher still when you have looked after them since you could walk because the two of you had no one else.”

“Was there no parental figure...” Duncan cut himself off there at the look she gave him.

“She aims to get herself heavy with the child of a noble, it is the only way a casteless like ourselves will ever mean anything, well unless a new Paragon is named and that happens not often. The person helping her...”

Duncan could put two and two together when it came to heavy silences. “I will not patronise you nor tell you it gets easier and that she will be ok, what I will tell you is that there are ways and means of getting word to and from people, and if necessary of extracting people, but that is something we may discuss after we have helped the King's army see enough battle with the Darkspawn that King Caillan's...lust for adventure is sated.” He picked up a wineskin of water, passing it to her, watching her drink before setting about breaking camp, she would come to find that family was not a thing that came only from blood, but that was not something to push onto someone all at once, she would learn in her own time. The Grey Wardens often became its own family after all given how many were less than welcome anywhere else.


	3. A nice attractive...sunset

Zevran considered that the mark of a good assassin was all in the planning, Zevran also considered himself a very good assassin. His targets had been two, a dwarf and a human, both Grey Wardens. He had spied them from afar and what he had seen of their camps had told him that the real target was the comely dwarf. From what he had seen of her, she was a housecat, she might have been gruff in the way of dwarves but she was the one that talked to everyone, that made them feel at home. So as well as being the softer target for all that she held a big sword, she was the glue that held together an apostate mage, a circle mage, a templar, a hulk of a qunari and a laysister, if she fell, the group would possibly dissolve there and then.

The scouting then had told Zevran two things, one of them had been in error. Oh yes she had certainly run after a traveller in need of help, it was the kind of thing she would do and he had even managed to split her off from a couple of her companions, but she had been no housecat. The bait, an apostate he worked with from time to time, had been the first to fall, _very_ quickly, and then what he had assumed to be an unassuming housecat took out her claws, bellowing, insulting, taunting, drawing all to her and keeping that attention on her as she became a frothing feral creature that took their best licks and left a trail of blood in her wake. Zevran had not expected to wake up, he had instead found himself joining them.

That had been a week ago, they had since picked up a golem, rescued a girl from a demon and Redcliffe showed itself on the horizon as the sun fell. He had taken to watching, it seemed that the others did not trust him quite yet, he supposed that he could hardly blame them. As for Tora, the feral creature was tucked away, that sense of danger was there, always there, but it was something she saved for her enemies. He watched as she made her way around the camp, a word here, a thrown stick for her dog there and a sword taller than she was whose blade thwapped against the curve of her hip and backside, a small woman with a big sword and curves that the skinny wrenches would die (but apparently not eat) for. That was when she turned and caught his eye, oh shit.

Tora walked towards him, unreadable, her voice thankfully mild, maybe teasing, as she reached him, “Enjoying the view?”

“Very much so.” Zevran let that hang for a moment, “The sun sets prettily, no? And reflects nicely against that mighty fine sword you have there.”

“Mmhm.” If Zevran was any good at reading people, and bearing in mind he had already gotten her wrong once, she was not buying it, which could be awkward. Aforementioned sword was casually taken from Tora's back and laid beside her as she sat down. She reached into her pack, “I was talking to Bodahn over there, he found a mighty fine brandy, now me, I'm not much of a drinker but...”

“A _dwarf_ isn't much of a drinker?”

Tora shrugged as she handed over the bottle, “This one isn't.” Those three words had held a world of weight, but Zevran had the sense that was not something to talk about just yet. 

“So you want to see me drunk instead.” He took a sniff of it, oh, this was the good stuff, “Oh I get it, you plan to murder me in my sleep.” He took a sip and stoppered it, “Though it would be a fine way to go.”

Tora laughed, it was quiet, restrained, not the explosion of the easily amused or those looking for approval, “No, if I kill you, you will be standing in front of me and armed. I just felt that home comforts might not be a bad thing.” She smiled faintly, “Besides, who knows what dream I would be interrupting, I wouldn't want to spoil the vision of a good sunset reflecting off of a sword, after all.”

“Nor what the sword is resting against...I said that out loud.” He got a nudge for that.

Tora turned to face him and Zevran got the feeling that he was being measured, assessed and judged, for what and what she found, Zevran could not tell. “Let me have a look at your daggers.” Zevran figured that there was likely going to be a reason and they had both promised not to kill each other, he supposed he was going to have to trust that she held her word as tightly as he held his oath to her. She studied the blades, “I'm not a smith by any means but looking at these and what Bodahn has valued other blades we have brought back...hmm, no, if I am expecting you to be able to defend yourself, this will not do.”

There was a hiss and a slither of silver as Tora drew a blade from a scabbard, twirling it to hand to Zevran for him to look over while she found its twin, “Besides, they are Crow things, and you want to be free of the Crows, do you not?”

Zevran looked at the blade and then into the emerald eyes of the dwarf, the spell being broken by the first drops of a shower, “Indeed I do, though if I am accepting blades from you, does that mean I belong to you instead?”

“We'll have to see. Come, that's only going to get heavier, and while wet suits some, colds do not.”

Zevran stood, taking Tora's hand and lightly kissing the back of it, “My thanks to you for your gifts.” They walked away leaving a part of Zevran's past that was rapidly becoming unmissed in the dust and the rain.


	4. Tarot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So I am trying to learn tarot and recently on the subreddit there was a headcanon prompt to do a three card spread.
> 
> I am nothing if not contrary, why limit myself to three cards I said? After doing that with three cards I selected to tell the story I chose to draw a twenty one card Romani spread, I might one day dress this up in a story but I thought it was interesting enough (as well as fitting in a lot of places) to share.
> 
> An image of the spread can be found here as long as imgur keeps it - https://imgur.com/a/iMMyHPh

The past

The Self: Eight of Wands – You were in a position where you had a need to act before thinking, the time was right or the time was necessary. Sometimes you feel that you may have rushed into it and you look back and wonder what you could have done differently, in your heart though you know you acted as you must.

Personal Environment: The Emperor – Someone or some people in your past created a world for themselves and they ruled it, if you play by their rules, you are good by them for now, if not...well, and I can see this strikes a chord in perhaps more ways than one. There comes a time that these rules and roles must be considered, if they are healthy then they should be left, if not, then action must be taken.

Hopes and Dreams: Seven of Coins: There came a time to reflect, to assess the life that you had built for yourself, is this really what you hoped for or in the moment were you deciding that you could make do?

Known Factors: Temperance – You have ever known to keep your eye on the big picture, you were in a situation, I feel, where there were so many things you wanted to do or say but you could not. Sometimes it is not bright to speak your mind, but do not get into the habit of this, the past is the past for a reason, it is to be learned from, you may have known when to hold your tongue or action but treat every situation on its merits.

Hidden Destiny: Eight of Coins – Your past has been one of hard work and labour, there have been things you have had to do, you have been the provider, the one to make sacrifices, all of this though has turned you into the person you are, it has set you on this path and it has made you into the person you need to be. Do not look back with regret or anger, take forward the positives of this time.

Short Term Future: Nine of Cups – You have recently come into a situation where there is happiness and bliss on a personal level and I suspect you don't know whether quite to take that step into the here and now. Darling who knows what will come tomorrow?

Long Term Future: Five of Swords – This card speaks of a victory so devastating to yourself it might as well have been a defeat. Your recent past has put into action events that will blight, excuse the choice of words, your future if something is not changed. Who can say what that is? The cards act as a guide to your own intuition.

The Present

The Self: Seven of Cups – You have a lot of choices in front of you and you don't know where to begin. Do you go here? Or there? Do you take this? Or that? Where hides the snake in the grass? You were wise to think with your heart in the past, in the now though, my dear, you need to think things through. There are many pitfalls but there is a way through.

Personal Environment: Nine of Swords – Oh darling, the world is not quite over yet! This card tells me that you look out the window of your soul and see one hundred percent chance of rain with a possibility of hail or the end of the world. While I can't quite argue that the end is not currently nigh, it can be un-nighed. Get out of your funk, you have here possibly the most fearful card but elsewhere in the one of the happiest, that happiness is yours to take, put the end of the world off until tomorrow.

Hopes and Dreams: The Fool – No this does not mean you are a fool to have them! The Fool is the wanderer, the journeyer, the quintessence of potential, but there is potential for good and for ill, open your eyes, girl, and make sure your path is firm.

Known Factors: Knight of Wands – You are daring and very sure of yourself, that sword on your back has seen battle, girl, and it has been battle for the benefit of others, not merely yourself. You are prone to charging in, I suspect, sometimes this is the right thing to do, at others though, you might need to take a second look. Ultimately what you have been doing has been working so far, make sure that that sword of yours keeps swinging for others, that is what makes you a hero.

Hidden Destiny: Ace of Cups – This is the promise that you can start something now. The cups are about relationships, that of the Ace a relationship that is an infant in its growth. It needs nurturing, caring for, take the time to do that when you aren't at war with the world around you, dear.

Short Term Future: Five of Cups – Recently you may have lost something and this is something that you keep feeling, you bring it with you into the here and now. It may be it will come back, it may be you have to look instead to something else. That is for you to intuit, but I will say this, when one door closes, someone usually opens a window.

Long Term Future: Two of Wands – Now is the time to make some goals for yourself. The future is vast and there are many possibilities, you see a lot of the big picture, the what must happens, the wild blazing inferno at the end of the tunnel, plan now how to get there. What you do now, right now, will open the door to your long term prospects.

Future

The Self: Knight of Coins – There may come a time where you are so certain of your path, this may be a time to listen to allies. The endeavour you are on, no, don't tell me, is achievable, but it will take work dogged labour and it will take staying true to this task.

Personal Environment: Ace of Wands – You are at a beginning and there is the potential for it to turn into so many things, we spoke with the two of that inferno at the end of your path, you risk taking this into the future, potential needs to be shaped, formed, your head needs to rule with your heart, not be drowned out by it. Potential can only take you so far.

Hopes and Dreams: Nine of Wands – Darling, what you hope for is going to be very difficult to get to. It is close, very close, all you will need is one final push, it will be difficult, it will be taxing, but you will have the surety and confidence to see it through. You may pay a heavy price, nothing is fixed, only demons promise that, but this card points to it being a distinct possibility as things stand.

Known Factors: King of Coins – You apply a diligence and doggedness to your life and you do what you know works. But for what you are working towards, sometimes you need to listen to what others have to say. Once you have made your mind up you do not like to veer off your path, you will nod then go and do what you were going to do anyway, sometimes though the questions and ideas of others are worth listening to.

Hidden Destiny: Queen of Coins – You are someone who has nurtured and who has been a mother, I want to say long before your time and to everyone who needs one. This can be a good thing to be, but in order to be the best you can be in that respect, you need stable foundations, that is something that you cannot stop working on. Some things just need doing right now, but there may come a time that you have to make a choice.

Short Term Future: Three of Cups – This can be a card of revelry but with the rest of the spread in mind, there are other meanings. You have not had the time to unwind, to just be with those you love. These can be the companions I see with you or someone else. There may be a time to indulge and if that opportunity comes then take it, remember that you have got be a friend to yourself first, everything else will follow.

Long Term Future: The Star – If there is a one word definition for this card it is Hope. If we follow the journey of the Arcana, the Star comes after Death, The Devil and the Tower, the world has changed around you, pitched you one way and the other, but you have not broken. Following your path in this spread, you have had a victory that has rung hollow, if you take what you have learned from that and, as the Two of Wands instructs, use it to shape the future, that is in your hands to do. Long term, my dear, the harrowing experiences of the now and indeed the past as we spoke of from the very beginning with the Eight of Wands, are tools and lessons that you can use to bring this hope to fruition.


	5. Blood does not equal Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nor does Family equal Blood.

Tora sighed as she considered how to approach this. They had been to Denerim, they had had a very pressing reason to be there and they should not tarry long so near the seat of Loghain's power. This was to be strictly in and out.

But Alistair had a sister and so Tora had supported him in going to see her. She had had misgivings, she did not have an idealised view of family blood and, she regretted it immensely, she had been right to have misgivings. She was of a good mind to turn back now and rip that shrew's tongue out. Not that this would help their current plight in the long term and it would not help Alistair in the here and now.

It would make her feel a lot better...

She took a deep breath, counting as she did, and put that anger away until it would serve her somewhere better. To further put that thought to one side, she dragged Zevran bodily to the tent and they, to put it mildly, had their way with each other. A little more chilled out she left him supping some brandy and went to tackle the cause of her concern.

It wasn't difficult to find Alistair, wherever they struck camp people tended to end up in roughly the same spot, Morrigan away by a small fire, reading or contemplating something or other, Shale and Wynne were growing into an easy camaraderie, Sten stared out into the distance, by the main fire could be found Alistair and Leliana. In passing Tora squeezed Leliana's hand, she wondered where her mind was given she had told her of her former master, Marjolaine, and then moved closer to Alistair, sitting down beside him as her Mabari came for a fuss before deciding to plop himself in her lap, she laughed as she pushed him off, “You are too damn big to be a lapdog.”

“Careful, one day it's 'oh pet me', the next it's 'get your hands off my food'.” Alistair should know, after all, he had been there.

“He knows better than to bite me, he'd get indigestion.” Tora looked into the fire, “So, how are you doing?”

There was a silence and Tora did not know if Alistair would break it, but she was patient, “I...I had hoped that she would feel the way I feel.”

“Why should she?”

“We're brother and sister. You keep telling me about Rica and the bond you have...”

“If you think that is something to do with blood, Alistair, then you are looking in the wrong place for a bond.” Tora should maybe have let him talk a little more but the sooner she cut through that knot the less knots there would be to cut through. “There is nothing in the blood that tells you what to think and who to think it towards. Rica and I have a bond because we are all we have had for as long as we remember...well until...” Tora paused then bit that down, this was not about her, “We have a shared bond, shared experiences and you and that...woman do not have anything of the like.”

“So there is no hope then, there is no one. Maybe you are right, I should look out for myself.”

“You could...or, you could open your eyes, Alistair.” Tora considered how to approach this without trampling over his feelings, “Yes, you need to put yourself first sometimes, you need to not worry about what others would want you to do, but you also need to know that there are more ties than in blood. I have a sister, I don't have anyone that I claim for a mother in Orzammar, but Wynne looks out for me. I never had a real friend, I had Leske but if Beraht told him to kill me...” She slit her thumb across her throat to emphasise her point, “But Leliana and I are thick as thieves, Morrigan has insights if you listen to her, if from at least as hard a place as I came from, Sten is level headed and practical, he might conflict in his views but he offers his own and while not everyone here gets along all the time, not one of us would let any other fall in battle.” That was something that Tora would very quickly and finally do something about if that changed. “If you look around, Alistair, anyone and everyone here has more claim to the title of family than a washerwoman in Denerim.”

“I notice you didn't mention me there.”

“You didn't let me finish, you dolt.” Tora looked down at her hands then smiled faintly and nudged Alistair, “You're short a sister and I never had a brother, I'll be your sister.” She put some tartness she borrowed from Leliana in her tone. “Though you might need to have a talk with Zevran, he keeps making moves.”

Alistair's face had been a picture of shifting emotions from confusion to happiness to puzzlement to... “Oi, you'd like that, wouldn't you. You just want to see him talk circles around me and leave me not knowing whether I am coming or going you shifty little minx.”

Tora squeezed Alistair's hand, “Well, that's what sisters do isn't it?” She smiled as she stood , “But it is late, think on it Alistair.”

Alistair stood and hugged her, “I don't think I need to.”

“Better?”

“Much.”


End file.
